Given a fresh pumpkin, my natural instinct would be to make it into soup. Or gnocchi. Or ravioli.
But everyone else - well, lots of people anyway - love to spice it up and sweeten it for dessert.
And, that’s okay. In fact, I do like pumpkin pie, and my friend Patricia's recipe is my favorite. Lots of spices and cream (unlike my grandmother’s, which called for evaporated milk).
I saw today’s recipe on my friend Inger's blog,
Art of Natural Living, and it reminded me of Patricia's pie. Only without the crust, and with a crunchy topping. I think I just got pulled up onto the bandwagon!
I really liked Inger's crème brûlée, and made only a couple of minor changes - I added a lot more spice, and I used white sugar (over brown) for the topping. If you don’t want to "brûlée" the custards, simply serve them with a dollop of whipped cream instead of the sugar topping.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
~ David
Maple Pumpkin Crème Brûlée
Minimally adapted from Inger's recipe
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
6 tablespoons maple syrup
1 cup heavy cream
4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
sugar for topping
whipped cream, optional
Heat oven to 325°F. In 9-inch square pan, place 4 ceramic ramekins.
In small bowl, slightly beat egg yolks with wire whisk. Add remaining ingredients and whisk until well blended. Strain into a pouring vessel, then pour evenly into ramekins.
Carefully place pan with ramekins in oven. While in oven, pour enough boiling water into pan, being careful not to splash water into ramekins, until water covers two-thirds of the height of the ramekins.
Bake 35 to 40 minutes until the center of the custard is set but jiggly.
Carefully transfer ramekins individually to cooling rack. Refrigerate until chilled, approximately 2 hours.
Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of sugar over each chilled custard, then rotate and tilt the ramekin to evenly distribute the sugar. Using a torch, heat the sugar until it melts and turns a medium caramel color. Alternatively, place under pre-heated broiler to brown. Or, as I mentioned, simply serve the custards with a dollop of whipped cream.
Makes 4 servings.
